Skip to main content
Log in

A comparison of department chair tasks in Australia and the United States

  • Published:
Higher Education Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Virtually every managerial book written lists and expounds upon the tasks, duties, roles and responsibilities of administrators. This paper reports a portion of the findings of the third phase of a study of Australian and U.S. academic department chairs in colleges and universities. In it, we seek to clarify how chairs in the two countries define the tasks that exemplify their role as chair. The driving question behind this inquiry is: Do academic department chairs, independent of country, define their tasks in the same way? And, if so, how might universities in both countries benefit from this knowledge?

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bass, B. M. (1990). Bass and Stogdill's Handbook of Leadership (3rd edition). New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bennis, W. (1994). On Becoming a Leader. New York: Addison-Wesley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership. New York: Harper & Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burns, J. S. and Gmelch, W. H. (1995). 'Stress factors and occupational roles of department chairs', The Journal of Technology Studies 21(1), 12-23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carroll, J. B. and Gmelch, W. H. (1994). 'Department chairs' perceptions of the importance of their duties', Journal of Higher Education Management 10(1), 49-63.

    Google Scholar 

  • Creswell, J. W., Wheeler, D. W., Seagren, A. T., Egly, N. J. and Beyer, K. D. (1990). The Academic Chairperson's Handbook. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dillman, D. A. (1978). Mail and Telephone Surveys: The Total Design Method. New York: Wiley & Sons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Drucker, P. F. (1993). Managing for the Future: The 1990s and Beyond. New York: Truman Tally Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Drucker, P. F. (1974). Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices. New York: Harper & Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gmelch, W. H., Burns, J. S., Carroll, J. B., Harris, S. and Wentz, D. (1992). Center for the Study of the Department Chair: 1992 National Survey. Pullman, WA: Washington State University, The Center for the Study of the Department Chair.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gmelch, W. H. and Miskin, V. D. (1993). Leadership Skills for Department Chairs. Bolton, MA: Anker Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gmelch, W. H. and Sarros, J. C. (1996). 'How to work with your dean: Voices of American and Australian department chairs', The Department Chair: A Newsletter for Academic Administrators 6(4), 1, 19-20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hair, J. F. Jr., Anderson, R. E., Tatham, R. L. and Black, W. C. (1992). Multivariate Data Analysis with Readings, 3rd ed. New York: Macmillan, pp. 236-237.

    Google Scholar 

  • Katzenbach, J. (1995). Real Change Leaders. New York: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kotter, J. P. (1990). 'What leaders really do', Harvard Business Review 90(3), 103-111.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lucas, A. (1994). Strengthening Departmental Leadership: A Team-building Guide for Chairs in Colleges and Universities. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mintzberg, H. (1989). On Management: Inside our Strange World of Organizations. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moses, I. and Roe, E. (1990). Heads and Chairs, Managing Academic Departments. Queensland, Australia: University of Queensland Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norusis, M. J. (1994). SPSS Professional Statistics 6.1. Chicago: SPSS, Inc., pp. 151-154.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rizzo, J. R., House, R. J. and Lirtzman, S. I. (1970). 'Role conflict and ambiguity in complex organizations', Administrative Science Quarterly 15, 150-163.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rost, J. C. (1991). Leadership for the Twenty-first Century. New York: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sarros, J. C., Gmelch, W. H. and Tanewski, G. A. (1995). 1995 National Survey of Department Heads in Higher Education. Frankston, Victoria, Australia: Monash University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sarros, J. C., Gmelch, W. H. and Tanewski, G. A. (1997). 'The role of the department head in Australian universities: Tasks & stresses', Higher Education Research and Development 16(3).

  • Seagren, A.T., Creswell, J. W. and Wheeler, D. W. (1993). The Department Chair: New Roles, Responsibilities, and Challenges. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No. 1. Washington, D.C.: The George Washington University, School of Education and Human Development.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smart, J. C. and Elton, C. F. (1976). 'Administrative roles of department chairmen', in Smart, J. C. and Montgomery, J. R. (eds.), New Directions for Institutional Research: Examining Departmental Management, 10. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tucker, A. (1992). Chairing the Academic Department: Leadership Among Peers, 2nd. ed. New York: American Council on Education/Oryx.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolverton M., Gmelch, W. H., Wolverton, M. L. and Sarros, J. C. (1999). 'Stress in Academic Leadership: U.S. and Australian Department Chairs/heads', Review of Higher Education 22(2), 165-186.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Wolverton, M., Gmelch, W.H., Wolverton, M.L. et al. A comparison of department chair tasks in Australia and the United States. Higher Education 38, 333–350 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003710427124

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003710427124

Keywords

Navigation